Four collectors, one guest artist, and one topic of reflection: Resonance(s). Four approaches to the collection, but one point in common: a passion for sharing one’s works of art with the public. Five countries: Spain, Italy, the Netherlands, France and Belgium. In this month of April 2014, we are delighted to present the tenth exhibit at Maison Particulière.

Selecting the works of art is a difficult, intricate exercise, but all the participants in this exhibit rose superbly to the challenge. Oftentimes, our themes are broad, and not drawn from a single art trend, school, or artistic movement. Rather, our ideas unfold from personal visions and from the timeless and universal. Deep down, we firmly believe in the two notions of the timelessness (thus liberation from time) and universality (the essence) of art, even - and especially - as we have entered an era of global art. The works selected by our collectors and guest artist thus depict their personal vision, in a way their own Imaginary Museum.

Imaginary, because beyond the physical reality of the work of art, it echoes an idea, an emotion, an era, a memory, which we appropriate for ourselves. Imaginary, because the artist forever creates. The artist has always been at the service of creation. André Malraux expressed this notion in L’Intemporel (in ‘The Metamorphosis of the Gods’) (1976): “Cezanne became aware of the errors committed by all the Masters: they believed that artistic creation was at the service of Virgins, Doppelgängers or Nature, whereas Nature, Virgins, and Doppelgängers were at the service of creation.” Thus, the imaginary has a dual presence in a work of art, which can be described as follows: any artist, irrespective of the era, has never been content to copy, imitate, or reproduce; he has unendingly contrasted the imaginary with reality.

For Maison Particulière, Resonance(s) is foremost a reflective play among a collector, an artist, and a work of art. Here is how each one has opted to approach the theme: Josep Maria Civit highlights that “resonance must be understood as com-motion; in other words, “in motion with another”: “something in motion even as the word is spoken, emitting vibrations similar to the waves generated by sound, leaving in their wake impressions and sensations attributed to tremors, emotions, or an alteration that overcomes us as we contemplate what the work of art reveals and communicates to us.” His love of music resonates with his reference to vibrations…

Henk and Victoria de Heus-Zomer are a fine example of a couple’s passion, a gradual liberation and personal pathway, which they traveled slowly and patiently, hand-in-hand. Over time, they “eventually defined their personal preferences and expanded their boundaries.” In any event, for them, collecting was subjective. When asked what common thread connected the works in their collection, they responded: “…our works are poetic, even lyrical, revealing great technical mastery; last but not least, they tug strongly on our emotions.”

The Collezione Maramotti is historical from a generational point of view. Founded by their father, Achille, the collection has been handed down to his children, Luigi, Ignazio, and Ludovica. Historical in reality, because the collection recounts one part of Italy’s art history: the sixties to present day. As a result, the works of art proposed by the Maramotti family quite naturally reverberate with references to art history, architecture, and nature, and even to the origins and the future, or to social and political concerns.

We ourselves are repeating the process and are participating in this exhibit at Maison Particulière, which has given us an opportunity to display another aspect of the works in our collection, a particular vision that takes us to the outer banks of our imagination: “…an odalisque found in Manet or Matisse; an evocation of Las Meninas by Velásquez; the manipulation of a sculpture that recalls Rodin; the light in a photograph that evokes Ingres; a reinterpretation of Caravaggio, a tattoo recalling the Lucretia by Cranach the Elder…”

Now for a few words about our guest artist: Gauthier Hubert lives in Brussels and dedicates himself predominantly to painting. Although less familiar to the greater public, he has, to our delight, agreed to select a sampling of his works for this exhibit. In a beautiful text that describes his approach and work process, for which resonance is key, he touches upon the constant subliminal echo among his paintings. He also raises a basic yet essential question: does a painting beautify the ugly?

Our literary guest, Claire Giraud-Labalte, provides an opportunity that we so enjoy here at Maison Particulière to have her words take us on a journey. As she so eloquently summarizes, by “starting with the principle that the more intimate we are, the more universal we are,” she wagers that “…these intimate and quiet conversations lead us to changing shores and often down mysterious pathways; generation after generation, these resonances unite us around our primary human preoccupations: childhood, love, death, life. By concentrating on color, Kandinsky revealed magnificently its impact on the body, heart and mind: a purely physical effect, a sense of serene joy, a tremor in the soul.”

The tenth exhibit at Maison Particulière resonates far more with us, since Resonance(s) is opening during Art Brussels, the international contemporary art fair. Here again is an opportunity to showcase the extent to which European artists and collectors have keen and varied tastes, and forged their own identity. It highlights as well the increasing role that Maison Particulière is playing within the Belgian cultural landscape and the broader international scope of the collectors’ passion for artists, the world in which they live, and creation.